Athens will not make any concessions on the principle of separation of powers and will not allow the executive branch to overturn the judiciary's decision on refusal to extradite Turkish troops demanded by Ankara in connection with 2016 foiled coup, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview published Thursday.

In May, a court in Athens ruled against the Turkish authorities attempting to return two out of eight of their citizens who fled to Greece in July 2016, after the failed coup attempt. The Greek court had earlier turned down Turkey's request for the extradition of the other six.

"I will explain to him [Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan] ... that we are an EU country, respectful of the law. And the executive branch cannot interfere with the judiciary. We have to respect the decision of the court in our country," Tsipras said, when asked how he would respond to a new request for extradition.

ERDOĞAN WILL VISIT GREECE

Erdoğan will in the coming days visit Greece, a top official said Thursday, the first visit by a Turkish head of state to its neighbour in 65 years. Erdoğan had himself, as prime minister, visited Greece in 2004 and 2010 but the trip will be the first by a Turkish president since Celal Bayer went to the country in 1952.

"Our president will be the first Turkish president to visit Greece in 65 years," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Hakan Çavuşoğlu, said without specifying the precise timescale, quoted by the Anadolu news agency.